Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh on Friday warned immigrants from Bangladesh against falling into the ‘trap’ of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by not applying for citizenship and not providing the related documents for the same.
Addressing a crowd during an Abhinandan, Yata Ghosh said, “I must warn one and all, particularly those who have migrated from Bangladesh before 2014 to apply for citizenship by providing all the relevant information … this is an utmost requisite because Prime Minister Narendra Modi will wait for another 2-3 months after which the Government will take appropriate action.”
Accusing Banerjee for misleading the people by asking them not to abide by the Citizenship Amendment Act which is a central statue, Ghosh said “the Chief Minister is misleading the people by asking them to reject and boycott the law. Those who will fall in that trap, will do themselves great harm. They will not file the documents at their own peril because the Prime Minister will wait for another 2-3 months where after the Government will act.”
Like it happened during the protest against the GST “when people who refused to register had to do so afterwards by paying fine this time also CAA will be implemented at any cost,” he said.
He also iterated that Aadhar card or voters’ identity card were not the right documents to prove citizenship. “The new law is there to give you citizenship and not to snatch it from you. So those who have come before 2014 are required to report it to the Government through proper document and apply for citizenship.
Not doing so at the instigation of Mamata Banerjee will amount to invite trouble,” Ghosh said rejecting allegations brought by the Chief Minister and even the Left and the Congress that one has produce the birth certificates of their parents to prove their bonafide.
“This is all bunkum. You will not be required to produce the birth certificates of your parents… they are only spreading disinformation about this. You will only have to apply for citizenship with right documents so as to get citizenship,” he said.
Slamming the civil society members for taking out rallies against CAA Ghosh said “these so called members of the intelligentsia class are only half-educated people. Today they are descending on the streets against CAA but we want to ask them where they were when thousands of Hindus were massacred by fanatic Muslims in Bangladesh … where they were when our Hindu brothers and sisters had to flee that country leaving their home and hearth everything.”
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister has decided not to attend an all-party meeting called by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar citing “preoccupations.”
The Governor had called the meeting to discuss two bills held up at the Raj Bhavan, officials said. The refusal of the Chief Minister to attend the meeting and calling by the Governor of an all-party meeting is seen as an extension of the ongoing face-off between Nabanna (State Secretariat) and Raj Bhavan.
The statement calling the meeting to discuss the two held up bills which had earlier been passed by the State Assembly said that the meeting was being called with regard to the pendency of ‘The West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019’ and ‘West Bengal State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Bill, 2019’ “on account of there being no inputs from the state government and the state Legislative Assembly in spite of repeated efforts.”